How do I force thermostat to always use auxiliary heat and compressor under a certain temperature?

[rgaila]

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Original Poster: Warren Smith 2403 

In cold weather, no matter what heat pump balance setting is used (savings, comfort, balanced, or off), the Nest Thermostat initially uses the heat pump only for heating and doesn’t activate auxiliary heat until the temperature differential is so large that it is uncomfortably cold in my house.  Is there a way to set the thermostat to always use auxiliary AND heat pump at all times when outside temperatures are cold (e.g. below 30F)? I tried turning off heat pump balance and setting aux to always in the equipment settings but the thermostat still runs the heat pump only at first until it gets so cold that I have manually crank the setpoint high enough to force aux heat on.  I also don’t want to lock out the compressor.

[joehorton]

My question exactly, before I buy one.  I want to set the balance point temperature and also be able to employ both heat pump and aux heat or just aux heat below a certain temperature such as 30F, like you are asking.  Right now it is a wash whether I burn the natural gas for back up heat, efficiency rather high, or the power company burns natural gas to make electricity, say 33% efficiency (actually more like 40%), then heat pump regains that with a 3.0 COP at 35F but way lower as the temp plunges.   In the future when our power companies quite burning gas to make electricity we can move our balance point down and use a greener way to heat our house.

[hlt4668]

No, the Google nest does not allow fine control of your heating options. It will decide for itself whether to use heat pump or auxiliary heat. You cannot control the nest thermostat. You will just have to put on a sweater 

[whayes75]

This site shows you how: https://mrob.com/pub/nest-thermostat.html

[GarrettDS]

Hey folks,
It looks like we have come to a solution so I'm going to be locking this thread. If you have any other concerns or questions, please feel free to create a new thread.

Have a great day.
Garrett DS